Q. What does music/society look like in Berlin these days? What is Berlin like from your point of view?

Its a trainstation as always, many come, many leave. Berlin is experiencing a lot of investment these days from abroad which result in some of creative spaces shut down. A lot of smaller venues suffered during the pandemic and there was a lot of places closing. There was also a lot of promoters that simply stopped, as well as artists and DJ's that went into hiatus. Now new places are opening up, admittedly further away, but the initiative and uncontrollable berlin club scene seems as vibrant and punk as usual.

Berlin is a place where you can live many different lives and there are platforms and people you can share that with. I find myself being here enjoying the platforms and groups I belong to, dnb head, (old) skater, husband and working in the audio industry at Ableton.

Q. You have had a long musical career and produced many masterpieces. But I think there was also a lot of pain behind it. When were the most difficult times? How did you get out of those hard times or slumps?

The 'pain' has been both a blessing and a curse - let me explain: I have always been a bit of a loner and not a part of a scene. Especially in Denmark i spent a lot of time in solitude. Which gave me depth in my thoughts and gave me time to go deep in my gear and technique, but there was also not anyone else around that could pull me back from thoughts of low self esteem, doubt, frustration or simply technical obstacles I could have used a friend to overcome, which are normal reflections most musicians feel at one point or another. Now that I am a part of a scene, I still feel that 'pain' as thoughts that made me strong, assertive and resolute and not falling into despair or doubt so easily. It always helped me to break things down to smaller parts to understand them better and looking at massive monolithic problems overwhelms most people. But dismantling the feelings and the problems in such a monolith makes it easier to find solutions for smaller issues.

A thing that pulled me out of every deadlock has been sabotaging my own process, trying something new every time, never establish too many routines and give yourself space to develop in other directions. In addition, discipline of work, and the resilience in keeping on working.

Q. Do you experience any pain or suffering in making music? If so, why do you continue? Do you ever feel frustrated or anxious about your music's sales or play counts? What do listeners and the industry mean to you?

Music feels like life, not as a thing or an activity, but as something so fundamentally a part of everything inside of me that I would never consider quitting. It would feel like burying a very fundamental part of myself, like stopping breathing. Its not even a choice. I realize i cant or wont stop. For me it carries so much poison out of my soul, and it is a vital safety valve for all the pressure we experience in todays world.

My music has never been tied to external success. It was never about a listener. It was never about fitting in. It was never about a certain Label or appreciation from a certain scene. And even less about the money coming out of it, or playcounts, or the concept of mass appeal.

I am flattered that someone likes it, that labels sign it, that someone raves to it, but this was always just me expressing myself and exploring technology. For me its about that one person that really likes the music and uses it as a catalyst to overcome something in their own life.

Q. I think your music is very realistic. It is music that can only come from the human imagination. How do you feel about drugs and AI doubling down on human creativity? Is it the right thing to do?

Berlin is a heaven for exploring drugs, but for me more as a listener in the audience. I have found substances to get in the way of a lot of things when composing and defeating the purpose of me making music - it simply sounded like shit. Mostly since it numbs out a lot of finesse and emotions I do not pay attention to under the influence. I see many that write amazing music super fucked up on drugs, and if that works for them, then yes, its the right thing for them. I dont Judge, and a normative answer from me would hold very little meaning for anyone else. I do enjoy a joint a beer when making music when my infamous Danish kick ass coffee wears off (ask anyone who ever visited my studio here in berlin about my coffee 🙂).

I think AI is and will increasingly be a part of my tool chain going forward, but never taking over my humanity in composing music. I could not imagine this tech being very helpful restrained and sandboxed the way we carefully step closer to see it - at this point I see AI drawing reference to, sampling, analyzing materials already made by humans to simulate us. But I do not see AI generate the unknown, the unseen, the unheard but drawing a lot of assimilation references. I can hear people make tracks from sample packs, presets that are sold and known - patterns emerge. AI seems a bit like that to me. its easy to spot a good craftman that lacks originality. I am sure this will change at some point, when AI develops its own aesthetic that is not rooted in human artefacts.

Q. You have released several albums/EPs in the past as Monolog. Which of them do you particularly like?

Loved all the collabs on Merge (ad noiseam), memories of many studio hours with a lot of people I miss. Eversleep (Subtrakt) felt like a breakthrough I like to remember. Conveyor (Hymen) and Indemnity and oblivion (Hymen) were statements of strong times and good life I like to remember, Same for the the Everything at Zero (Murder Channel). Still listen to the Diasiva 12"'s Asunder (acroplane) and Microplastic (Aboretum), which are absolute bangers.

Every album, EP, single, Collab, remix represents a thought, a little learning, a little victory tied to situations and time horizons from the 24 years I have been releasing music for. Even the debut is a time capsule, a witness where I was, how I was working and what music my imagination was trying to fill the world with. Looking back on the entire line, I am happy about my progress, where I came from and what I became, I can hear myself living my life in these albums.

Q. What is your upcoming schedule? Finally, a message to our readers

So here in April there is the Q release on Murder Channel. Followed by the LP on Murder Channel In May on Murder Channel as well.

For Diasiva we have a full length album coming out on Beduin this year, where we might play a few release shows following that.

Also, the Label 'I shall sing until my land is free' is currently pressing an 12" EP release later this year too.

Thank for reading and for showing interest in the log of the mono, I was happy to get a chance to put some of these thoughts out there.

2023.05

MDC Interview#58 " Monolog "